Women in Baseball
Thesis sentence: Women’s baseball during World War II initiated and reflected a changing attitude of the women’s place in America.
I. Introduction
II. History
A. Before the league’s establishment
B. Notable player’s on men’s teams
1. Lizzie Arlington
2. Jackie Mitchell
III. All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League
A. Establishment
1. Rules of play
a. Field size
b. Ball size
2. Men’s baseball compared to women’s baseball
B. Distinguished playerd
1. Dottie Kamenshek
2. Sophie Kurys
3. Mary Pratt
C. Ownership of League
1. Arthur Meyerhoff
2. Local control
IV. Treament of players in AAGPBL
A. Rules of conduct
B. Everyday Life
V. After AAGPBL
A. Title IX
B. Silver Bullets
C. Preservation of League
1. Women honored in Baseball Hall of Fame
2. AAGPL Player’s Association
3. A league of Their Own - authenticity of the film
VI. Conclusion
Phil Stack’s “All-American Babe”
The war has made some changes
In our nation’s fav’rite game
For ‘teen age kids are making
Abid for baseball fame.
And though these “All-American Boys”
Will star as sure as fate,
We’ll add an “All-American Babe”
And overflow the gate!
During World War II, labor shortages meant that between 1940
and 1942, four million women entered the labor market that included the
sports industry. Since, Major league baseball players were drafted
or volunteered for military service, women were needed to fill the void
left in “America’s favorite pastime,” baseball(Berlage 133).
Since 1866, women had played baseball at Vassar College, which
fielded the first two women’s baseball teams. This set the pace for
“seven sister schools” in the Great Lakes region to establish teams (Ward
18). The original women’s uniforms included high necklined long sleeved
blouses, and long flowing skirts, which could weigh up to thirty pounds
(Women in Baseball 1). Eventually, Amanda Bloomer, an early women’s
rights activist, designed loose-fitting trousers, which became known as
“bloomers”.
However this league was not to continue as Sophia Richardson, a
student, explained, “One day a student, while running between bases, fell
with an injured leg. We attended her to the infirmary, with the foreboding
that this accident would end our play of baseball…Dr. Webster said that
the public doubtless would condemn the game as too violent, but if the
student hurt herself while dancing, the public would not condemn dancing
to extinction” (Ward 18). Afterward, disproving mothers complained
leading to the disbarring of the teams. Not until 1880, at Smith
College, did women reorganize where they again were forced to disband (18).
In spite of those leagues being disbanded, there were many
women who achieved a position on a men’s baseball team. In 1907,
Alta Weiss was hailed as a “girl wonder” because she became the star pitcher
for the Vermilion Independents, a men’s semi-pro team, at seventeen.
When the season came to an end, her father realized his daughter’s economic
potential and bought half interest in the team and changed the name to
the Weiss All-Stars. Harry P. Edwards, the sporting editor of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, extolled her pitching. “Without a doubt she
is a phenom for I saw her pitching against some of the best semi-professionals
in Cleveland and she was very effective against them. She seemed
to have everything that any amateur pitcher has and fields her position
well in addition to having a good baseball ‘noodle’”(Berlage 47).
Although Alta Weiss occupied a masculine role, “The
abundant source material on Weiss makes it clear that she was not using
baseball to further the cause of women’s rights. She simply loved
the game and was thrilled…to play it” (Berlage 47). Also there was
the first woman signed to a contract in the minor leagues, Lizzie Arlington.
“She was signed for two reasons but let go for one -- signed because she
was a woman and a good ball player, let go only because she was a woman”(Gregorich
13). Thinking the woman pitcher would attract large numbers, William
J. Conner, her manager, was disappointed. However Edward Grant Barrow,
president of the Atlantic League signed her to play for Reading.
On July 5, 1898, she pitched in a regulation minor league game against
Allentown, appearing in the ninth inning, when Reading was ahead 5-0 and
giving up no runs. Approximately one thousand people including two
hundred women turned out to see the game. Barrow, like Conner, believed
the novelty of a female pitcher would attract more gate money (13).
Since Barrow felt Arlington's proposed economic potential
was not reached she and her high salary were let go. Many believe
that if she had been a male player with the same abilities, she would have
had a position on a minor league team with a lesser salary. However,
no one could conceive of a woman simply as another player on the team.
She continued playing on a bloomer team after her short lived career in
the minors. Yet playing on these teams did not make her an individual
novelty showing that at that time there were many talented women baseball
players (15).
In addition to Arlington there was Virne Beatrice “Jackie”
Mitchell who became the second women ever signed to a minor league contract
in 1931. She was partly signed as a publicity stunt (Women in Baseball
1). Joe Engel, president of the Chattanooga Lookouts, grabbed national
headlines with the announcement that Jackie was going to pitch against
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the Yankees. On April 2, 1931, Jackie
came to the mound after both Ruth and Gehrig had hits off the starting
pitcher. Babe came to the plate first and tipped his hat to Jackie
reminding her there was a man on first. Unfortunately for Babe, the
man did not advance on his trip to the plate. He swung and missed
on the first pitch for a strike. With the next two pitches having
gone wide, Babe called for a new ball. Babe again swung and missed
for two strikes and two balls. The next pitch flew over the plate,
but Babe did not swing. Umpire Brick Owens called strike three on
Babe. Of course, there are many different stories of how Babe stormed
backed to the dugout. Next was Lou Gehrig. One reporter said,
“Lou Gehrig stepped up to the plate. His knees were shaking and he
cut at three fast ones…and also sat down.” Tony Lazzeri, the third
batter, earned a base on balls and Jackie was retired. “I think they
[Ruth and Gehrig] are both fine men and great ball players. I see
nothing strange about my striking them out, at least stranger things have
happened. Not even the best batters can hit them all,” Jackie told
reporters. However, Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis
voided her contract and prohibited women from playing baseball saying that
baseball was “too strenuous” for a woman (Berlage 75).
Also used for the drawing power, Toni Stone was the first
woman to play Negro professional ball. Toni had learned to play baseball
from neighborhood games because at the time girls were prohibited from
playing Little League Baseball (126). In 1953 Toni became a member
of the Clowns as a pitcher. “I know what I am doing and what I am
in for. I don’t want anyone playing me ‘easy’ because I am a woman
and I don’t plan to play easy against them. I am here to play the
game.”
As a result of Landis’s decision women began to play softball
or go as far as they could on men’s teams before they were excluded.
Before the establishment of the All American Girls Professional Baseball
League, many women played in intermurals or church leagues. For instance,
Mary Pratt, a member of the AAGPBL, played with boys, by boys’ rules, and
with men referees. “She received no encouragement or discouragement
from parents or anyone” (Pratt). During this time women’s softball
games actually were better attended than men’s. In 1939, it was estimated
that sixty million watched softball games, which is ten million more than
watched baseball (Berlage 134).
For this reason in 1943, with Joe DiMaggio and other baseball
players drafted into service, Philip K. Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate,
founded the All American Girls Softball League. For the previous
ten years, women had played softball only, so the league would be softball
based (Women in Baseball 1). Wrigley’s major problem was that softball
had an image problem. Players were frequently pictured as being masculine,
physical freaks or lesbians(Berlage 134). The league would have nothing
to do with the kind of short-haired, mannishly dressed toughies who were
touring the country on several barn storming teams. He wanted “the
highest ideals of womanhood and to see nothing but healthy, wholesome,
‘all-American’ girls” (Fincher 88). The league started with four
teams, the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches, the South Bend (Indiana) Blue Sox,
the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Comets, and the Racine (Wisconsin) Belles (Berlage
137). Each team played a 108 game schedule.
Even though they were a softball league at first, over the
years the league gradually became a baseball league.
AAGBL Regulations, 1943-1954 (Berlage 145)
Year Ball Size Base Paths Pitching Mound Style
1943 12” 65’ 40’ underhand
1944 11 ½” 68’ 40’ underhand
1945 11 ½” 68’ 42’ underhand
1946 11” 72’ 43’ underhand/sidearm
1947 11” 72’ 43’ underhand/sidearm
1948 10 3/8” 72’ 50’ overhand/sidearm
1949 10” 72’ 55’ overhand/sidearm
1950 10” 72’ 55’ overhand/sidearm
1951 10” 72’ 55’ overhand/sidearm
1952 10” 72’ 55’ overhand/sidearm
1953 10” 75’ 56’ overhand/sidearm
1954 9 ¼” 85’ 60’ overhand/sidearm
July1954 9” 90’ 60’ overhand/sidearm
During the league’s eleven years it produced several distinguished
players. Dottie Kamenshek, Sophie Kurys, and Mary Pratt were just
a few. Dottie tried out in 1943, at seventeen, five feet six inches
and 135 pounds, she was one of the bigger girls. She was allowed
to come because her mother did not think she had any chance of being chosen
to play. Then her chances were hurt when someone stole her glove.
After she managed to try out with a borrowed glove she was chosen to play
outfield for the Rockford Peaches. Soon she was moved to first base
because of her remarkable defensive ability. She also had a rare
capability to make contact when hitting and come up with clutch hits.
Men’s minor league teams tried to purchase her contract but she did not
want to “be a guinea pig” to sell tickets (Gregorich 90).
As for Sophie Kurys, in 1946 alone, she stole 201 bases, a
professional record no one has even managed to approach (Fincher 88).
“They tried taping sliding pads to my legs,” says Kurys. “But they
were just so cumbersome. I told them, no, I’d just get the strawberries.
Besides the pads made it look as if my slip was showing”(Wulf 18).
Now sixty-five and living in Arizona, Kurys says, “I love to watch
Rickey [Henderson], you know, he’s cockier than hell. It surprises
me that the players don’t steal more. If you watch the pitchers and
get a good lead on them, you can steal” (18).
Similarly, Mary Pratt was a pitcher for the Rockford Peaches
in the ’43, ’46, and ’47 seasons. During the ’44 season, she pitched
for Kenosha when two of their players had sustained injuries. “44
was by far my best year. In fact, that was the year that got my picture
on baseball cards. I have 21 wins and 15 losses to go along with
a no-hitter. We played a 125-game season, playing every night and
twice on Sundays. We used to get $60 per week for playing ball, plus
$2.75 per day for meal money when we were on the road” (Molinari).
During the ’45 season she quit because of her obligations to her school
work. She came back in the 1946 season because the league was having
a difficult time finding softball pitchers that could pitch side-armed
(Pratt).
As for all the players, they were required to follow the conduct
rules or suffer fines, go to charm school, and wear one piece dresses as
uniforms. These short skirts resulted in countless abrasions, scraps,
and cuts on the players’ legs. Even though these injuries plagued
the league, they played through them including broken fingers, deep bruises,
and even pregnancy. In 1948, Dottie Collins, a pitcher for the Fort
Wayne Daises, played until she was six months along with her child(Women
in Baseball 1). As Helen Callagan explained, “We played tough, even
when we were hurt. Not like today when these big-money ballplayers…
[have] a little pulled muscle [and don’t] play… we’d have strawberries
on our legs from sliding in skirts… and the chaperones would just tape
us up and we’d go” (Berlage 142).
After getting up at dawn and working out all day, they were
required to attend charm school in the evening at Helena Rubinstein cosmetics
company. They were taught how to put on makeup, get in and out of
a car, put on a coat with seemingly grace, how to enunciate correctly,
and how to charm a date. The girls were officially forbidden to drink,
gamble, violate curfew, wear shorts or slacks in public, or go out on dates
alone without permission and an interview of the perspective swain (Fincher
88). Here are the official Rules of Conduct:
1.) Always appear in feminine attire when not actively engaged
in practice or playing ball. This regulation continues through the
playoffs for all, even though your team may not be participating.
AT NO TIME MAY A PLAYER APPEAR IN THE STANDS IN HER UNIFORM, OR WEAR SLACKS
OR SHORTS IN PUBLIC.
2.) Boyish bobs are not permissible and in general your hair
should be well groomed at all times with longer hair preferable to short
hair cuts. Lipstick should always be on.
3.) Smoking or drinking is not permissible in public places.
Liquor drinking will not be permissible under any circumstances.
Other intoxicating drinks in limited portions with after-game meal only,
will be allowed. Obscene language will not be allowed at any time.
4.) All social engagements must be approved by chaperone.
Legitimate requests for dates can be allowed by chaperones.
5.) Jewelry must not be worn during game or practice, regardless
of type.
6.) All living quarters and eating places must be approved
by chaperones. No player shall change her residence without the permission
of the chaperone.
7.) For emergency purposes, it is necessary that you leave
notice of your whereabouts and your home phone.
8.) Each club will establish a satisfactory place to eat,
and a time when all members must be in their individual rooms. In
general, the lapse of time will be two hours after the finish of the last
game, but in no case later than 12:30 a.m. Players must respect hotel
regulations as to other guests after this hour, maintaining conduct in
accordance with high standards set by the league.
9.) Always carry your employee’s pass as a means of identification
for entering the various parks. This pass is not transferable.
10.) Relatives, friends, and visitors are not allowed on the
bench at any time.
11.) Due to shortage of equipment, baseballs must not be given
as souvenirs without permission from the Management.
12.) Baseball uniform skirts shall not be shorter than six
inches above the knee-cap.
13.) In order to sustain the complete spirit of rivalry between
clubs, the members of different clubs must not fraternize at any time during
the season. After the opening day of the season, fraternizing will
be subject to heavy penalties. This also means in particular; room
parties, auto trips to out of the way eating places, etc. However,
friendly discussions in lobbies with opposing players are permissible.
Players should never approach the opposing manager or chaperone about being
transferred.
14.) When traveling, the members of the clubs must be at the
station thirty minutes before departure time. Anyone missing her
arranged transportation will have to pay her own fair.
15.) Players will not be allowed to drive their cars past
their city’s limits without the special permission of their manager.
Each team will travel as a unit via method of travel provided for the league.
FINES OF FIVE DOLLARS FOR FIRST OFFENSE, TEN DOLLARS FOR SECOND,
AND SUSPENSION FOR THIRD, WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE IMPOSED FOR BREAKING ANY
OF THE ABOVE RULES.
After two seasons, Wrigley sold the league to his advertising
executive Arthur Meyerhoff. He guided the league through 1950 when
the league saw its biggest profits. Unfortunately in 1948, he made
a costly mistake. Meyerhoff expanded the league from eight teams
to ten. Adding more teams dilutes the talent resulting in a lower
quality of play (Women in Baseball 1).
AAGBL League Franchises, 1943-1954 (Berlage 138)
AAGBL League Franchises Years
Rockford (Illinois) Peaches 1943-1954
South Bend (Indiana) Blue Sox 1943-1954
Racine (Wisconsin) Belles 1943-1950
Kenosha (Wisconsin) Comets 1943-1951
Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Chicks 1944
Minneapolis (Minnesota) Millerettes 1944
Grand Rapids (Michigan) Chicks 1945-1951
Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daisies 1945-1954
Muskegon (Michigan) Lassies/Belles 1945-1950 & 1953
Peoria (Illinois) Redwings 1946-1951
Chicago (Illinois) Colleens 1948
Springfield (Illinois) Sallies 1948
Kalamazoo (Michigan) Lassies 1950-1954
Battles Creek (Michigan Belles) 1951-1952
For the reason that players became local celebrates and small
cities embraced these players as their own, Wrigley stayed away from teams
based in the larger cities that usually did not gain interest. There
were fan clubs and people were constantly asking them for their autographs
. Rallies before games and parades for winning the playoffs were
common (Berlage 137). After Meyerhoff’s brief attempt of running
the league, the remaining owners bought him out in 1950. Originally
the league had been conceived as a separate women’s league. Unfortunately,
as individual franchise owners looked for promotional gimmicks to increase
revenue, some resorted to having their teams play exhibition games against
men’s teams. This put them in direct competition with men and thereby
altered the image of the women’s league from that of a separate and distinctive
third major league (Berlage 153).
Eventually in 1954, cuts in spending and lowered attendance forced
the league to close (Women in Baseball 1). The AAGPBL was also a
casualty of the times. Attendance at games declined while trying
to compete with televised games of men’s minor and major league baseball.
Also the 1950s brought major changes in the social definition of women’s
roles. Again there was strict sex-role segregation (Berlage 153).
Furthermore with the conclusion of the war, women were expected
to relinquish their jobs to men. The ideal female role became that
of a full-time housewife and mother. Little girls were no longer
encouraged to play baseball with their brothers and Little League baseball,
which replaced sandlot ball, adopted a no-girls-allowed policy. For
many years the fact that women played baseball during the war became forgotten.
Years later, when the AAGPBL was mentioned, it was the natural assumption
that they played softball (Berlage 153).
Since the league’s closure there have been several attempts
to equalize men and women in sports. In 1972, Congress passed the
Educational Amendments. One section of this law, Title IX, prohibits
discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including
in athletic programs (Empowering 1). Although Title IX makes it illegal
to discriminate against girls and women in baseball, three factors will
continue to prevent them from playing. First, Little Leagues shunt
girls off to softball. Second, most parents of girls still see softball
as the acceptable female alternative to baseball. Third, since there
are no girls’ baseball leagues, girls must compete with boys and suffer
both blatant and subtle forms of prejudice and discrimination. The
girl who somehow overcomes the odds and tries out will continue to be seen
as the exception. As for women playing professional or semi-professional
baseball the prognosis is dismal. Yet women did play semi-professional
baseball in the 1800s and even had their own league in the 1940s (Berlage
110).
As a result, women, who were under ten when Title IX passed
have much higher sports participation rates than women who grew up before
Title IX. Fifty-five percent of the “post-Title IX” generation participated
in high school sports compared to thirty-six percent of the “pre-Title
IX” generation. More women have had the opportunity of higher education
through athletic scholarships. In addition, because of Title IX the
salaries of coaches for women’s teams have increased. But the progress
women and girls have made under Title IX falls far short of gender equity
(Empowering 1).
Since 1990, hundreds of lawsuits and Civil Rights complaints
have been filed under Title IX and State Equal Rights Amendments charging
gender discrimination in sports in both high schools and colleges.
Most of these have concluded in favor of women. Some have resulted
in women’s teams being reinstated that were scheduled to be cut, women’s
club sports being upgraded to varsity status, and women coaches receiving
equal pay (2). In 1993, Howard University head women’s basketball
coach Sanya Tyler sued Howard for sex discrimination under Title IX and
the D.C. Human Rights Act, saying she was paid much less than the men's
head basketball coach. Breaking new ground with the first monetary award
given by a jury in a Title IX case, Tyler was awarded $2.4 million (later
reduced to 1.1 million) in damages.
In addition to Title IX, A League of Their Own was made based
on the AAGPBL. Mary Pratt explained “when it was finally decided
to make the movie, I was sent out to assist the movie crew in place of
Dottie Green, who had recently passed away. Dottie played catcher
on our team. That’s the role Miss Davis plays.” For the most
part, the movie is extremely accurate from a historical standpoint.
However, during the first season, they did not play baseball, they played
softball. In one scene during the tryouts, a coach sees one of the
players throwing underhand and instructs her to pitch overhand. In
reality they started pitching overhand in 1948. Also the tryouts
were held at Wrigley Field, but not all in the same day, and the first
day of tryouts had to be held under the bleachers due to heavy rain (Women
in Baseball 1). Another difference was Madonna might criticize Tom
Hanks on screen, but players never talked back to managers. Pratt
recalls someone sitting on the bench knitting during a game, “That never
went on,” she says to set the record straight (Walters 10).
In addition to the film, the women were honored on November
5, 1988, in Cooperstown. In comparison the women were honored but
not inducted like the men. Also the men have over 15,000 files in
the Hall of Fame were as the women have close to 300 files (Pratt).
The Hall of Fame has an intriguing collection of uniforms, photographs
and trophies that salutes the 545 athletes from the United States, Cuba
and Canada who were part of the AAGPBL. As one of them noted in Cooperstown,
“it doesn’t say Men’s Baseball Hall of Fame, does it?”(Fincher 88)
After the establishment of Title IX and the movie A League
of Their Own in 1984, Bob Hope tried to field a women’s team to compete
in the men’s minor leagues. Hope approached the Coors Brewing Company
in the summer of 1993 for endorsement. Coors bestowed the team with
three million dollars. Phil Niekro, who was vice president of promotions
for the Atlanta Braves, was chosen for manager. “Women should have
the opportunity to play competitive professional ball,” he said.
“I think we are going to surprise quite a few people with the ability of
these athletes and the caliber of ball they can play” (Notable 1).
Approximately 1,150 women tried out. In early 1994, twenty to twenty-five
players were chosen to play for the Silver Bullets. Teachers, coaches,
moms, and waitresses all put their lives on hold to play (1).
In spite of the three years they devoted their lives to playing
against men’s teams they ended their 1997 season knowing that their first
winning season may be their last. Coors announced that it would not
be able to continue funding the team because it simply did not have the
money. Coors market people were actually concerned that, if women’s
sports became more popular Coors would be viewed as a women’s beer (2).
Another great example of improvement is Julie Croteau.
She has the distinction of being the first and only woman to play NCAA
baseball, and that was in the Division III level in 1989 (Berlage 193).
She left St. Mary’s College in the spring of her junior year due to a number
of sexist incidents. “This sort of thing isn’t just happening at
St. Mary’s; it’s happening everywhere,” she said. “I was so upset
when I found out about this league… I felt like I had been cheated… if
I had known about these women,… it would have been support, even if I had
never met them” (108).
Girls. It was always “girls,” never “women,” and in
the memories of the members of AAGPBL it remains so today. As Tony
Kornheiser, a sportswriter, said: “Only a fool would claim there
isn’t a general prejudice against women in serious sports teams like baseball,
basketball, and football. Team sports are an avenue of the culture
where men tend to see women in subservient, support roles-as cheerleaders,
for example. They endorse women’s rights to play and enjoy sports,
but they want to keep those sports separate” (107).
As for the question of whether or not women are physically
capable of competing with men, former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent
said, “We won’t know until we see it done. I’m one of those who tends
to think it can [be done]” (195). An opposing view came from a former
Mets player, Bob Apodaca, which probably expresses the view of many men
in baseball. In 1976, when asked about the possibility of women playing
baseball in 1976 he said, “You mean, with the men? No, I don’t think
it will ever come to that. I don’t think the ‘lords of baseball’
would allow it… it might be the year A. D. 3000, but I don’t see anything
wrong with women starting their own professional baseball leagues.
They have it in softball” (196).
In conclusion, until women have an equal ‘playing field’ to
men, starting as young as farm leagues, we will never know if women can
compete with men. The few exceptions back in the 1800s and early
1900s have shown that women deserve the chance. Then with the establishment
of the AAGPBL women from all over the U.S. proved they could play.
However when the league came to an end, many forgot the women had played
at all. Fortunately in 1992, with the making of A League of Their
Own many remembered the women’s accomplishments and it has inspired and
has helped many young women to play sports. With the institution
of Title IX and the funds going into women’s sports, women seem to be heading
in the right direction for gender equality.
Works Cited
Berlage, Gai Ingham. Women in Baseball. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1994.
Empowering Women in Sports. [Online] Available
http://www.feminist.org/research/sports12.html, December 9, 1999.
Fincher, Jack. “The Belles of the Game Were a Hit With Their
Fans.” Smithsonian
July 1989: v20, 88-97.
Gregorich, Barbara. Women at Play: The Story of Women
in Baseball. New
York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993.
Macy, Sue. A Whole New Ballgame: The Story of the All-American
Girls Professional
Baseball League. New York: Penguin Group, 1993.
Molinari, Lou. “The Pitch is Still the Same: Championing
Women’s Role in
Sports.” MAX For Women September 1977.
Notable Years of Women in Baseball. [Online] Available
http://www.lifetimetv.com/sports/silver_bullets/women.html, November
19,1999.
Pratt, Mary. Telephone Interview. 23 November 1999.
Walters, Laurel Shaper. “The Real days When Women Went to Bat.”
The Christian
Science Monitor 16 June. 1992, 10.
Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. Baseball an Illustrated History.
New York:
Baseball Film Project Inc., 1994. 18,19,280,281.
Women in Baseball All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League.
[Online]
Available http://www.acusd.edu/~jsartan/AAGBL.htm, November 19,
1999.
Wulf, Steve. “Woman of Steal: Rickey Henderson is Good,
But He’s no Sophie
Kurys.” Sports Illustrated 15 April. 1991, v74 n14 p18.